Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute opening session of his 1998 series, Khensur Rinpoche introduces the Seven Point Mind Training through the root text’s image of diamond and sun — conventional bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta — as the twin remedies for self-cherishing and self-grasping. He traces the lineage from Serlingpa to Geshe Chekawa, then maps all seven chapters so students can follow the structure ahead. Drawing a parallel with Lamrim’s three scopes, he shows how the preliminary points build toward the core Mahāyāna practice of training in both bodhicittas. The session ends with a detailed account of who is genuinely suited to Dharma practice — the physical conditions, faith, intelligence, health, and moral standing required. A clear entry point for those new to this text.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 7P 1998 10 03.mp3
UUID: 9cce4f7d-dc82-456b-b71c-f31e3dc692ba
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 7 Point Mind Training (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1998-10-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.4 minutes
Words: ~2,436
So first, whatever action we perform it entirely depends on our motivation whether that work becomes good or bad. So in this cyclic existence or in this world, there are many sentient beings such as humans and etc, so all they are naturally in nature they all want happiness and doesn’t want suffering, so they have same nature or same wish to have happiness and does not want suffering. So we should change our mind or generate a motivation to as being a Mahāyāna practitioner or Mahāyāna practitioner one should maintain a motivation have one should not seek happiness and liberation for oneself, for oneself. One really needs to generate love and compassion to all sentient beings and to strive for enlightenment for the sake of those sentient beings. So finally, at this stage, at this moment we have a capability to practice the Dharma and for that one should really arouse a motivation that I should really strive hard to get enlightened for the sake of sentient beings, for that I will practice in so for that I’ll my practice and overcome all my negativities or disqualification, dis non for that one should think that one will overcome all the negativities and one’s non qualities or get rid of one’s unwholesome qualities and to bring all sentient beings to the enlightenment or liberate from suffering, I should somehow overcome all my negativities and unwholesome qualities and strive hard to get enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings.
And to overcome all the to overcome one’s negativities and unwholesomeness and acquire all the good qualities to do that one needs to hear or one needs to hear the teachings. For that purpose, for that reason or for that purpose to enlightened for the sake of sentient beings and for that one should try to overcome one’s negativities and acquire all good qualities for that I should listen to this particular teaching. No. So we’ll do a few minutes meditation. Yeah. That is ending. Today, we start with our commentary on Seven Point mind training.
So this Seven Point mind training starts from this saying these instructions are the essence of the nectar, they have been passed down from Serlingpa, means this instruction which is, instruction is like an essence of nectar which has, which can overcome our sickness or disease, disturbing emotions and death. And this particular teaching is being passed down or being descended from the great teacher Dharmarakshita, or Serlingpa, and then down to Chökyi and until after us. And this teaching has been passed down from Serlingpa and then on to and then it’s mind training, so this mind training has come down to the great yogi or practitioner bodhisattva, Geshe Chekawa, and he composed the seven point mind training. The main teaching or the benefits of this Seven Point mind training is stated here from the root texts: they are like a diamond, the sun and the medicinal tree. Understand the purpose and so forth of these texts. So this teaching is like a diamond and the sun which represent the first diamond represent the bodhicitta or enlightened mind So the bodhicitta or bodhicitta which stands for diamond stands for the bodhicitta or altruistic intention and the sun stands for the ultimate bodhicitta or ultimate altruistic intention.
So the main teaching is of this teaching is about the bodhicitta and the ultimate bodhicitta. What the So Buddha has taught the two kinds of teachings which are Hīnayāna and the Mahāyāna teaching and the proposed teaching, the Mahāyāna proposed of giving Mahāyāna teaching is that we have this self grasping which is the source of or which is the basis for is the basis to receive or to come all the negative so to overcome that negativity which is self grasping Buddha has taught the Mahāyāna teaching. No. So to overcome the self grasping attitude, Buddha and the method to overcome that self grasping attitude Buddha has taught the wisdom realizing emptiness. No.
And we have another negativity which is self-cherishing attitude and in terms of Hīnayāna practice, this is not the negativity and it’s not a negativity but in terms of Mahāyāna teaching or Mahāyāna practice, this self-cherishing attitude is to be abandoned and So in terms of Mahāyāna teaching, the self-cherishing attitude is the negative one and we should abandon that self-cherishing attitude. No. So Rinpoche should emphasize here is that that which is called self-cherishing attitude is to be abandoned. So I’ve been misinterpreted something from the beginning. We have diamond and the sun which the diamond represents the conventional bodhicitta and the sun represent the ultimate bodhicitta.
So, yep, And to overcome that self-cherishing attitude, our Lord Buddha has taught conventional bodhicitta or conventional altruistic intention to overcome. It’s been taught to overcome that self-cherishing attitude. And bodhicitta or the altruistic mind here means that which the bodhicitta is the mind which we cherish others more more important or more important than oneself and to and and they they cherish they cherish they cherish others more than one more important than oneself and they work for the happiness and happiness for others and if so that the bodhicitta or an altruistic intention has the power to get rid of that self-cherishing attitude. So if we are being able to generate those two bodhicitta, one is the conventional bodhicitta and the ultimate bodhicitta. So if one has if can generate those two minds or bodhicittas in within oneself then one can we then one can overcome all the disturbing emotions and one can overcome all the disturbing emotion, it’s disadvantageous plus and also overcome the self-cherishing attitude and one can develop the practice of cherishing others more important than oneself.
Yep. And so so this this this this teaching which is very profound and extensive and also can help and can benefit can also benefit us a lot. But but to practice this kind of teaching, we face lots of obstacles to practice that kind of teaching and not only that at this time of age is the degeneration, the time of degeneration or the time of, yeah, the time of degeneration. So we have many obstacles occurring or coming to us while or when we practice this extensive and profound teaching. So and this practice, in this time of degeneration we face many obstacles to practice, to do the practice and this particular teaching which help us to turn all the obstacles and integrate them. Excuse me.
Yeah, this particular teaching help us to transform all obstacles into good qualities and also So and then also the obstacles and then the things which contradicts with our practice, they all turns into one’s friends friends. So there are many historical stories about this teaching, teaching, how we passed on from our great master to this time, but if if I go if I tell all these historical stories here then it eats lots of time. We cannot we won’t be able to finish this teaching. So teaching has been called or designated as Seven Point mind training and seven point here means it has seven main practices to be done in this practice. So it is it it would be nice if one if you can able to write down all write down the seven points.
Take a note of all seven points. Supporting Dharma practices. Preliminary supporting Dharma practices. And the second one is, so the second point is which is the actual teaching and which is training the mind in the path to enlightenment. Training the mind, turning the mind in the path to enlightenment.
And third point is bringing unfavorable conditions into the path to enlightenment. Bringing unfavorable conditions into the path to enlightenment. And the fourth point is integrating the practices in a single lifetime. Integrating the practices in a single lifetime. And the fifth one is the measure of a trained mind or the criteria of a trained mind.
So the while we are saying that criteria or the measure of the trained mind is it’s showing the label of that you have trained when you reach particular stage or your mind has been practiced or been trained at this stage is called, I mean after practicing and for reaching certain stage is called now this is the criteria or the measure of trained mind. The sixth one is the commitments of mind training and commitments here are we will be giving out and discussing on this topic means the commitment here is saying these things should be done or this thing should not be done. So and by by doing this we’re making commitments in one’s mind. So the sixth one is the commitments of mind training. Seventh one is the advice regarding mind training.
So it’s like it’s given like, you you know, the what kind of advice mom a mother gives to her children like, do this and that and that. So it’s like that it’s advice from the teaching what practice should be done or what what has to do. Yeah. So having the seven chapter or seven particular ordinance, it’s this teaching has been called or designated as seven point mind training. Preliminary supporting Dharma practices in the root root text itself, there’s just only just a single line or a sentence about preliminary practices which is initially trained in the preliminary.
This is a single sentence or line from the root root root text. So and so to our our actual practice is is about the bodhicitta or about two two kinds of bodhicitta. So the and it is like it it this this practice is sort of like same like the Lamrim Lamrim practice is in Lamrim teaching, the actual teaching actual teaching of the Lamrim is about the is the third scope of the third scope. And so the two preliminary practices in the Lamrim is the two first, the preliminary practice of the is second second scope and the middling scope. So here, it is same.
It it it’s also the same that the the practice the actual practice here is the two kinds of bodhicitta or or it’s in the practice of the third scope and the initial preliminary practice is of the two scopes, initially small scope and the middling scope. The teaching on of the small scope, Chittungopa has stated about how difficult it is to achieve the precious human rebirth, which has the freedoms and leisure. So the whole so during the teaching of small scope, has been taught. This I mean, they talked about the how difficult of getting or achieving this human rebirth, which has the the freedoms and leisure. No?
No. Freedom in endowments. No. I know today that that I looked at that media, to the artist, and I So the reason why the teaching of why the reason why it’s been taught how difficult this human rebirth is to achieve, which has the leisure, freedoms, and endowments. It’s because to overcome all the sufferings and acquire all the good qualities, have this, one should practice the Dharma.
And and to practice the Dharma, it should be a being to practice the Dharma and above the being among the beings, all beings are not capable or are not being all beings are not able to practice the Dharma. And it is the only human or a human being is the only suitable or has the capability to practice the Dharma and so this is how this is why this teaching that how difficult it is to achieve human rebirth, to have human rebirth and which has But in general, all human beings are good, but all of human beings cannot practice the Dharma and because to practice the Dharma one should have all the aspects or one should have the conditions to practice the human beings cannot practice Dharma or cannot or are not capable to practice Dharma. To practice the Dharma, there should be a person who accepts the Dharma or who agree there is a Dharma. And a person who is nonbelieved who’s nonbelieved nonbeliever of the Dharma or does not agree there is a Dharma or practice, so we can say the atheist. So that kind of person is not suitable to for practicing Dharma.
Also and human beings in in a place where the where the Dharma doesn’t exist, they cannot practice the Dharma and a person who is deaf deaf cannot practice the Dharma because they cannot hear the Dharma. And also there are some people who have all the organs or like they cannot have all the physical, nothing wrong with their physical but they are unintelligent or they cannot you know, they are some kind of person who does not learn anything. So that kind of person is not also suitable to practice the Dharma. And there are the same persons in this world who has committed huge or heinous crimes like killing their mother or their father, a person who has committed that kind of crimes, then even they can practice the Dharma but they cannot develop any realization. A person who practices Dharma should have great faith or one who is very happy to do this practice, and one has good intelligence or sharp mind, and one should be very enthusiastic and has not got any bad disease and has good health.
So this kind of person can practice the Dharma. After here, once we I mean, this kind of person is really suitable to practice the Dharma. And the teaching which we should practice, this should be a teaching which has all the which has a which has include all the instructions, because to overcome suffering, it has the instruction and this should be a teaching which has been practiced by the great yogis, which has been analysed by the great yogis and then they’ve been contemplated by great yogis and been meditated by the great yogis who have developed great realization by practicing such teachings. Such teachings should be called Dharma and all the texts does not mean Dharma. And a teacher who taught a guru who taught the Dharma should be a teacher who has all the qualities to teach Dharma or and it also and one should have all the qualities to be a teacher or to teach the Dharma and also it’s great if the teacher has generated or has attained certain realization, it will be better.
So to do a true practice or a good practice, one should meet all these conditions